When you work in the media business, it can be easy to forget that the word “business” is more important than the word “media” to the people at the top. As people in our industry try to search for clues about what Disney’s plans for ESPN are, Richard Deitsch offered some common sense advice – take what media reporters write with a grain of salt.
Reader Robby W. submitted a question to Deitsch’s “Media Mailbag” column at The Athletic this week asking what we should expect to happen to ABC if Disney is indeed planning to sell ESPN.
“Candidly, I’d read the business press on this before a knucklehead such as myself,” Deitsch answered.
A recent restructuring made ESPN and all of its related businesses its own division of The Walt Disney Company. Last month, Disney CEO Bob Iger insisted that did not mean the company was preparing to spin-off the World Wide Leader.
Deitsch points out that those comments are not in line with most of the thinking on the matter. He provided a link to a column in the Los Angeles Times from Stephen Battaglio saying that if ESPN really is off the table, Iger has put tremendous pressure on himself and his employees to reduce costs. Deitsch provided another link recapping a report from Wells Fargo analyst Steven Cahall that calls selling ESPN “the best path forward” for Disney and noting that the company considers it “a reasonably probable late-’23 event.”
